Training Through Injury
I got out of bed to go to the toilet. My legs were stiff and unresponsive. As I reached the door of the bedroom, I felt a sharp pain shoot through my left knee. My leg buckled, and I collapsed against the door. Another sharp pain shot through me, this time through my chest, where I had broken a rib a couple of weeks prior. I seethed, wondering whether I had pushed myself too far.
The scene depicted above happened to me last night. The broken rib occurred during a game of Aussie rules football, where I received several blows to the chest. At first, I didn't even register that I had done any damage. I was too hopped up on adrenaline during the game to feel any pain. It was only later, when I was taking a shower at home, that I noticed an ache in my chest. I dismissed it as nothing too serious, and the next day, I worked out as I would have on any other day. The pain was uncomfortable, but manageable. Again, I dismissed it.
The day after that, however, I went to a Muay Thai session. There, I was repeatedly punched in the stomach, and one of these blows produced an audible snap in my chest. The rib had likely only been fractured before; now it was broken. I finished the session, bracing myself every time I got hit, and being cautious when I was throwing punches of my own. The following day was when the damage made itself evident. I tried to carry out my workout as usual, but every movement involving pushing or pulling my body was agony. This was extremely frustrating. For the previous few weeks, I had been keeping to a good routine, an important part of which was exercising every day. Now, with a broken rib, any heavy lifting was out of the question. The normal prognosis for a broken rib is six weeks to heal completely, given proper rest. The thought of stopping exercising entirely for six whole weeks was unacceptable to me, so I had to look at other options. I could still do lower body exercises painlessly, as long as they were unloaded, so that wasn't an issue. I tried a bit of shadowboxing, to see how painful it was. It was tolerable, and it would allow me to hone my technique for Muay Thai without contact, so I opted to include that, too. Finally, this could prove to be a good time to work on cardiovascular endurance. One of the issues with broken ribs is that they naturally force you to breathe more shallowly than usual. This is an issue because you need to breathe deeply to clear out phlegm in the lungs to avoid chest infections. Getting your heartrate up, and forcing yourself to breathe heavily are antidotes to this. So, with that in mind, I opted to go for alternating rounds of jump rope and shadowboxing in place of my usual lifting, as these would provide a full body workout without exacerbating my rib injury.
After a few days of this, I was feeling great. The pain in my chest had largely subsided, and my technique was improving, both in shadowboxing and jump rope. After a week, however, a new problem surfaced. One morning, as I tried to warm up by jumping rope, I just couldn't seem to get it right. The rope kept catching on my feet, and the fluid bounce I had managed to achieve before was replaced with a stiff, jerky movement, which brought with it sharp stabs of pain through the joints in my legs. I gave up, disheartened, and resolved to take a break from jump rope the next day. One thing I had failed to take into account, however, was that I had an Aussie rules game the following evening. I went to the game, doing my best to run on my compromised legs, but I wasn't much use, and I spent most of the game on the bench. That brings us up to last night, where I finally accepted that I was in dire need of a break.
This does not mean that I plan to stop exercising entirely; to do so would throw off my routine, which in turn would make me less likely to return to working out once I have recovered. Further to this, it would actually delay my recovery. For an injury to heal, blood flow to the area is essential. Blood carries oxygen and nutrients, which are necessary to provide the injured area with the means to repair itself. Rather, I have had to once again reconsider what exercises to do include for the time being. I am severely limited in my options. The important thing for me for the time being is to rehabilitate, not to try to improve on anything. I have prescribed myself rounds of walking backwards (this helps to increase blood flow to the patellar tendon in the knee, which is where my injury is) and pushups, to encourage blood flow around the ribs, now that the rib is healed enough for me to work around it, albeit lightly.
Once my knees have improved to a point where I can once again jump rope without pain, I will begin alternating between the two circuits I have described. Hopefully, this will be a good balance of training and rehab. It should see me through until my rib has healed fully, at which point I can return to my normal training.
One interesting thing that I have noticed while dealing with these injuries, is how my outlook differs from times in the past when I have been hobbled. Previously, an injury would have meant an excuse not to work out, instead spending that time watching TV, or playing video games, or doom scrolling. Now, I have a much more positive attitude, taking the injuries in my stride, finding ways to work around them. I find this very encouraging, as this is the kind of mentality that I have long wanted to have, but rarely achieved. This mental fortitude is useful in all aspects of life. I find myself getting distracted less of late, and when I do get distracted, it takes me less time to return my focus to the task at hand. I look forward to seeing where I go from here.
